Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Netherlands runs about 16% pricier than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €2,890 a month here — roughly €34,680 a year, and a ×30 number near €1,040,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Oceanic — mild, breezy, famously grey skies.
a new-build asking price
in Amsterdam — about €1,840/mo for 70 m²
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Netherlands, buy prices are up 115% since 2015 (+8.5% last year); rents up 29% since 2015.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Buy price and rent: Deloitte Property Index 2025 (14th ed., 2024 data). Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
Investments are taxed on a deemed return: the state assumes your wealth earned a set percentage and taxes that, whether your year was up, down or flat. In practice it works like a wealth tax on investments — and a wealth tax raises the rate your portfolio must sustain, which raises your number.
A shift to taxing actual returns has been targeted for around 2028, but it's still contested in the senate — neither the shape nor the date is settled.
The spouse or partner inherits €828,000 tax-free (2026), each child €26,000; above the exemption, close family pays 10% then 20%.
Next signal: Prinsjesdag, September 2026, when the softening amendment is due.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
No money-only route — the wealthy-investor permit closed in January 2024; the doors are skilled work, self-employment, study or family.
the €1.25m investor permit was abolished after fewer than ten were ever granted.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual restricted · the civic integration exam at A2 Dutch (a rise to B1 keeps being postponed)
facts and circumstances: a permanent home, your family, municipal registration
The Netherlands quietly proved golden visas can fail: fewer than ten of its €1.25m permits were ever granted before the route was abolished in January 2024. What remains is work- and family-shaped, and naturalising usually means giving up your old passport — the dual-nationality ban survived the latest coalition, though the floated ten-year clock did not.
The A2→B1 integration-exam rise stays on the table (parliamentary debate scheduled 2026); the five-year clock and the dual-nationality ban both stand as of mid-2026.
Check it yourself: IND — investor scheme abolished · IND — naturalisation
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
Universal but insurance-based: every resident must buy the basic policy within four months of registering — premiums owed back to day one, about €159 a month on average for 2026 plus a €385 deductible.
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- How are investments taxed in the Netherlands?
- Under Box 3, investments are taxed on a deemed return: the state assumes your wealth earned a set percentage and taxes that, whether your year was up, down or flat. In practice it works like a wealth tax on investments.
- Can I be taxed in the Netherlands even if my portfolio didn't gain?
- Yes. Box 3 taxes a deemed return whether your year was up, down or flat, so you can owe tax on gains you may never see.
- Is the Netherlands switching to taxing actual investment returns?
- A shift to taxing actual returns has been targeted for around 2028, but it is still contested in the senate, so neither the shape nor the date is settled. The next signal is Prinsjesdag in September 2026, when the softening amendment is due.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Netherlands?
- No money-only route — the wealthy-investor permit closed in January 2024; the doors are skilled work, self-employment, study or family. An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Confirm with the immigration authority — routes open and close.
- How long until a Netherlands passport?
- 5 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with the civic integration exam at A2 Dutch (a rise to B1 keeps being postponed). Dual citizenship is allowed only in limited cases. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
Start with Where You Live — the deemed return works like a wealth tax — try one on the number, illustratively.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 8 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.